Governor Kathy Hochul and Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader have announced a new agreement aimed at strengthening economic, cultural, and social ties between New York State and the Dominican Republic. The announcement took place in Santo Domingo, where both leaders signed a Declaration of Intent (DOI) to expand cooperation in areas such as tourism, disaster preparedness, agricultural innovation, and economic development.
“New York State and the Dominican Republic share a deep, enduring bond rooted in community, culture, and opportunity,” said Governor Hochul. “This mission represents our shared commitment to forge a collective future defined by innovation, inclusion and global partnership. From expanding trade opportunities for New York small businesses to exploring groundbreaking drone technologies that can improve and save lives across borders, this collaboration will deliver real results for both of our economies and our people.”
President Luis Abinader stated, “This agreement will allow us to work in all areas to have a more effective and efficient relationship between the Dominican Republic and that great state of New York, where many of our compatriots live who are now doctors, police officers and outstanding professionals.”
As part of the initiative, Empire State Development’s Global NY program will lead an official trade mission to the Dominican Republic. The goal is to connect small- and medium-sized enterprises from New York with business partners in the Caribbean nation. This effort aims to promote exports from New York businesses while encouraging long-term bilateral collaboration.
Additionally, Empire State Development announced a partnership involving its innovation partner NUAIR—based in Syracuse—with Dominican agencies. This partnership focuses on applying drone technology for disaster response as well as infrastructure management and agricultural uses. NUAIR operates one of the country’s most advanced drone-testing corridors out of Griffiss International Airport in the Mohawk Valley.
The DOI includes collaborative training initiatives such as sending emergency services personnel from New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services on training missions to the Dominican Republic. It also features technical support through surplus equipment auctions for the Dominican government in New York State.
There is also a multi-year educational partnership planned between SUNY (State University of New York) and CUNY (City University of New York) with institutions in the Dominican Republic. The aim is to advance research related to climate change resilience, infrastructure development, meteorology, emergency management, public administration—and share best practices among faculty members.
In December 2023 after major weather events impacted the Dominican Republic that November—a delegation from New York including officials from NYS Bridge Authority visited Santo Domingo as part of efforts led by Representative Adriano Espaillat. During this visit commitments were made by New York officials to assist with climate resilience planning.
A follow-up delegation saw engineers from the Dominican Republic visit various bridges and tunnels across downstate New York in June 2024 as part of ongoing knowledge-sharing about infrastructure improvements designed for climate challenges.
Empire State Development President Hope Knight commented: “Under Governor Hochul’s leadership…we are expanding opportunities for business growth…that benefit communities from Santo Domingo to State Street.” Jackie Bray of Homeland Security added: “We are proud to be able to share our knowledge…we are all stronger when we work together.” Other state officials expressed similar support for continued cooperation on education infrastructure agriculture disaster response efforts.
Global NY’s upcoming trade mission will collaborate with the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo providing customized export assistance reports along with pre-arranged business-to-business meetings focused on sectors like life sciences advanced manufacturing green technology consumer goods.
NUAIR’s role will include further demonstration projects relating not only disaster response but also infrastructure monitoring agricultural innovation building upon existing unmanned aircraft systems research capacity established within Central New York.
